Community Lounge, Introductions and General Discussion Discussion, Name the show. in General Discussion; We're all car enthusiasts, so the cars in TV shows and movies tend to stand out to us. Sometimes the ...

Name the show.

We're all car enthusiasts, so the cars in TV shows and movies tend to stand out to us. Sometimes the cars made the show, sometimes the show made the car. Either way, let's see who has a sharp eye and keen memory.

Whoever correctly identifies the show or movie the car is from should post up a new car to be identified.

Re: Name the show.

Originally Posted by ga_etc

We'll start off with a somewhat tough one.

You call that tough?

As a child of the Seventies, I grew up watching the Rockford Files and his heroic Firebird. There's a whole YouTube channel with 30 videos so far of some of his car chases, although I could do without the goofy editing to replay his signature J turn several times in the middle of a chase.

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As a little bit of trivia on Rockford's Firebird: The license plate 853 OKG stands for August of 1953, which was when he got his first acting job. OK is for his home state of Oklahoma and the G is for Garner. He personally chose the Firebird because it had good handling and did a good deal of his own stunt driving (James Garner was also the pace car driver at multiple Indy 500s).

Re: Name the show.

1955 Pontiac Star Chief convertible from "I love Lucy." Notice the wire wheels. Don't know if they were real or hub caps, I think they were real because I don't remember seeing the hubcap falsies until the seventies. In 1957 the Bonneville replaced the Star Chief as the top of the Pontiac lineup. In 1957 the Bonneville could be had with "fuel injection."

Re: Name the show.

Originally Posted by orconn

1955 Pontiac Star Chief convertible from "I love Lucy." Notice the wire wheels. Don't know if they were real or hub caps, I think they were real because I don't remember seeing the hubcap falsies until the seventies. In 1957 the Bonneville replaced the Star Chief as the top of the Pontiac lineup. In 1957 the Bonneville could be had with "fuel injection."

Very nice, Orconn! This was one of the first instances of product placement on TV. GM paid the production costs of shooting on location with the Pontiac in exchange for the exposure on the #1 show on TV.

Here's the Pontiac in action (along with the old clunker Cadillac Fred Mertz bought) in Lucy Learns to Drive:

When Lucy tells Ethel she should learn to drive, too so she's not "so much dead weight," Ethel has one of her classic snarky comebacks: "Well maybe I'll develop other talents like folding up road maps and keeping an eye open for clean restrooms." I love Vivian Vance.